Daily Bible Reading - Tuesday Jan. 6th

This morning we see where God has brought us from being disciplined to being faithful, they both tie in together.  How awesome that we can fit both of those into our lives today in whatever situation we are, whether it be for weight loss or any other place we are at in our lives today.  Praise the Lord He is a faithful God that when we get off  track we can go to Him ask him for forgiveness and He will pick us up and point us in the right direction like He has with Abram so many times.  This mornings reading just follows that and shows us how faithful He really is and with faithfulness comes trust, when we learn to trust Him and give everything to Him we find how much smoother our daily lives are.

***Peggy***Doesn’t it make you awe struck how God can take the same words we all read and speak different things to us,  I think its just awesome how there are so many different meanings and so many things we can get out of one scripture and yet they all tie in together and bring us back to the one point God was trying to make.  I think the Lord is trying to teach a lot of us to trust Him.  For years I’ve had a hard time trusting Him myself.  Not that I did not love Him or know that what He says was true,  I just had a few area’s in my life I was heading in the wrong direction and in my heart I did not trust Him fully.  Praise God we can go to Him and ask Him to forgive us and ask Him to help us and he is always faithful and always there whenever we need Him.  I just love it how He is always there for us no matter what, no matter what.

I received this in an email yesterday and it gave me chills as I read the end of it.  It just goes to show me how faithful God is to be there and watch over us if just take a minute to trust Him.

This will give you chills no matter how religious you may or may not be.  Phil. 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Here’s the Story

A young man who had been raised an atheist was training to be an Olympic diver.  The only religious influence in his life came from his outspoken Christian friend.  The young diver never really paid much attention to his friend’s sermons but he heard them often.  One night the diver went to the indoor pool at the college he attended, the lights were off but as the pool had big skylights and the moon was bright there was plenty of light to practice by.  The young man climbed up to the highest diving board and as he turned his back to the pool on the edge of the board and extended his arms out he saw his shadow on the wall.  The shadow of his body was in the shape of a cross.  The man felt a strange feeling like someone was speaking to him.  Instead of diving he knelt down right there and finally asked God to come into his life.  As the young man stood back up a maintenance man walked in and turned the lights on.  The pool had been drained for repairs!

Wow, that taught me such a lesson in trusting Him no matter what.  For without Him I am nothing but with Him I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  I just wanted to share that with you this morning.

You all have a great day today.

Today’s Readings

Genesis 13:5-15:21
Matthew 5:27-48
Psalm 6:1-10
Proverbs 1:29-33

Daily Devotional for Dieters

Hebrews 9:22
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

If we learn anything at all from being a Christian, we learn that good things do not come without sacrifice. Jesus had to give everything He had in order to reunite us with God. If we decide to be the best we can be, then we need to accept the fact that there is some sacrifice required. When we learn to sacrifice, we learn what it means to be a Christian. Sacrifice is a good discipline. Sacrifice teaches us what is really important, and it helps us be thankful for what we have. When we stop to think of how great Christ's sacrifice for us was, it inspires us in our diets to become better people; people worth dying for!

Today's thought: Dieting can draw me closer to being a disciple!

Hi all, and again Andy, thanks for doing this..it is no less than a calling from God that you have answered!

I want to just give you a little tid bit that the new pastor gave to us on this past Sunday. His sermon was titled "Passion For The Word of GOD!"  His first ? for us was, "Are you passionate for the WORD?"  He went on to say that there are those who are very passionate for thier football or whatever sport, etc. and can give you dates and stats on players...are we that passionate about GOD's WORD? And how about being passionate about your job, or any other hobby you might have??? He made a simple statement that he said if we chose him to be our pastor we would get very tired of hearing him say and it was this..."YOU will not grow spiritually until you read your Bible everyday" He repeated that several times during the sermon...

He then proceeded to give us an outline on how to develop a passion for the WORD..

1.Make a committment and find a time....Rick and I have choosen as soon as he gets home from work to read and discuss.

2. Make a plan..decide where you will start and how much to read. Did you know that the bible on tape is only 71 hours long. Thats right, if we wanted we could only spend 71 hours and have it read completely thru. If we only read 1/2 hour a day that is only 142 days...or less than 5 months....hummmmm! NOW was not having enough time really my excuse?

3. Read at least one chapter a day or a day in the Bible in a year plan. Mark at least one verse that stands out and speaks to you and then ask GOD to reveal how that applies to your life.

4. BE DISCIPLINED!!!!! lol! We are a lazy people and will let this fall by the way if we dont stay on ourselves and have others hold us to it...so we should all be praying for each other to stay focused on this goal!

Okay now, for what I recieved from todays reading...Abram (or Abraham) was so kind on that day when he let Lot choose, and how did GOD reward him? By actually giving him the best! Isnt that the way our wonderful GOD works? When we give the best of what we have to someone, GOD returns to us 10 fold.. I remember a lady at a food pantry saying that all people ever gave were their left overs or stuff that was the cheapest and they wouldnt buy for their own households so I try to always give the same things I buy for myself...Has GOD rewarded me? In ways I cant even tell about! He is a good and loving GOD that wants us to have HIS best!

Next When GOD told Abraham that He was his shield and his exceeding great reward...WOW! When in turmoil and searching for "PEACE", pray for the peace of knowing that GOD is your shield and protector and also your reward..you need NO other reward but HIM!!!!

One more line that stood out was  in Matthew is 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is Heaven is perfect!"  
ME??? perfect???? Yeah right!  Ahhhh! But, I can strive for perfection! If we strive to get every thought from HIM....1Thessalonians 4:1-2 says it plainly...keep listening to HIM and his commands and reading HIS word!

And so does the Proverbs follow suit with telling us we should love knowledge from HIM and all we need to do is call on the LORD. In hard times who do you turn to? My goal is to turn to HIM as often in the good times because I know they are from HIM!

If Rick has any pearls of wisdom to add later I will re-post his thoughts! lol!

Sorry mine were so long but GOD really spoke to me with these passages! GOD is so good.

Thanks again Andy and all that are participating..We need to hold each other up in this!